Reader mock No. 9: A slide continues

In jaguars.com 2013 reader mock draft, the New York Jets select at No. 9 overall...

JACKSONVILLE – Say this about the reader mockers:

They may like debating, and during the week they may like a little sniping and “carryin’ on,” but on the weekend they get down to some serious football discussion.

At least that’s how it was this past weekend.

And while that debate didn’t produce a clear-cut winner, meaning the senior writer had to get involved to push the decision in the proper “direction” – his word, of course – it did eventually produce a pretty sound decision for the New York Jets at No. 9 overall in the jaguars.com 2013 reader mock draft.

This, by the way, is the next-to-last day of the one-selection-per-day segment of our reader mock. Things will pick up fast when we move through Rounds 11-15, 16-20, 21-26 and 27-32 the rest of the week and early next, so we’re wrapping this thing up early next week with the Jaguars’ selection at No. 33.

And speaking of the Jaguars . . .

The good news on Day 9 was that we very nearly got through the day without any “Dee Milliner to the Jaguars” debate/lamenting.

The bad news?

Well, the bad news is there are still those reader mockers who can’t quite help themselves.

“Dee Milliner is coming to the Jags,” Salt Life wrote. “I'd put money on it.”

To which Draft_Expert_Lance replied, “I'll give you my address later so you can deliver me your money.”

With the daily lamenting out of the way we got down to the day’s discussion, which eventually came down to whether you thought the Jets wanted to draft a replacement for Mark Sanchez or draft a pass rusher to help a defense that has slipped significantly the past two seasons.

That meant choosing between West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith and Louisiana State defensive end/linebacker Barkevious Mingo, the latter of whom made his first appearance in our little discussion a significant one.

But while Mingo-Smith was the center of the debate, the tangents proved fascinating on this day, including a compelling argument for Florida State cornerback Xavier Rhodes.

“The Jets will draft Xavier Rhodes so they can finally trade (Darrelle) Revis for a combination of picks and players that will improve their terrible roster,” James_from_Jacksonville wrote.

Michael Lee Ensing II put in a word for Texas safety Kenny Vaccaro after that, and there was the daily mention of West Virginia wide receiver Tavon Austin. It stands to reason Vaccaro and Austin will disappear from our board in the coming days, just not on Day 9.

Not surprisingly, the senior writer’s offering of Utah defensive tackle Star Lotulelei received little notice. Not that Lotulelei would be a bad pick here, but after a brief and glorious two day streak of picking the eventual selection, the senior writer has digressed into a place of irrelevance, a place where admittedly he is comfortable and familiar.

There was a smattering for Alabama guard Chance Warmack, too, but mostly on this day, Smith and Mingo carried the day, though neither carried a clear majority.

There was plenty of support for Smith, mainly because there is a faction of reader mockers who simply can’t believe there won’t be a rookie to push Mark Sanchez.

“Geno Smith is still on the board?” Collin Giuliani wrote. “The Jets have Mark Sanchez as their current starting QB? Jets take Geno Smith.”

Others were equally confident.

“Geno Smith,” Jaguarrior wrote. “End of discussion.”

Except that it wasn’t. The support for Smith on Day 9 was the same as it had been a few other days, which is to say it was strong at times, but not strong enough. Too many people just have too many questions about whether he’s a franchise quarterback.

“Does the Geno slide continue?” William Harmer wrote.

In this mock at least, the answer is yes, which meant that on this day Mingo soared into our Top 10 seemingly from nowhere.

“The J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS take the best available pass rusher in Mingo from LSU,” Jonathan Wesley Peters wrote, and his excitement spilled over to the other mockers.

“Jets take Barkevious Mingo,” Litigious Quaker wrote. “They lack pass rushers in their 3-4 scheme. Jarvis Jones is a good player, but better served to play in a 4-3 hybrid scheme, like how Denver uses Von Miller.”

J-School Corby summed up the senior writer’s thoughts when breaking the tiebreaker.

“I don't think Rex Ryan's willing to throw in the towel on Sanchez just yet, and I think he'd be much more likely to target a QB in the second or third round as more of a fallback plan than a replacement,” Corby wrote. “When you get to outside linebacker the cupboard is thin, and it's tough to make a 3-4 work without good pass rushers on the outside.

“Mingo fits the need, and his talent and upside fit the pick.”

The senior writer agreed, and while that shouldn’t make Corby feel too great about his ability to analyze the draft, it was enough to push Mingo to the Jets. That means that after nine selections the 2013 jaguars.com reader mock looks like:

1. Kansas City | Luke Joeckel, OT, Texas A&M

2. Jacksonville | Dion Jordan, DE/ LB, Oregon

3. Oakland | Sharrif Floyd, DT, Florida

4. Philadelphia | Eric Fisher, OT, Central Michigan

5. Detroit | Dee Milliner, CB, Alabama

6. Cleveland | Ziggy Ansah, DE, Brigham Young

7. Arizona | Lane Johnson, OT, Oklahoma

8. Buffalo | Cordarrelle Patterson, WR, Tennessee

9. New York Jets | Barkevious Mingo, DE/LB, LSU

That brings us to the Tennessee Titans at No. 10. The senior writer is going to offer up Warmack here with a heads-up that if it’s close, it’s going to be tough to knock Warmack out of this spot. If he’s there at No. 10, this selection just makes an awful lot of sense.